Here’s a view of the other barn that you can’t see on HenCam. It is a post and beam barn, made from New Hampshire white pine. It is a wonderful space. One of those buildings that makes you feel good when you are in it. Yes, I know it’s rather extravagant for chickens, but I love big antique barns, and I’ll never have one, so I treated myself to this.

The sink in front looks like soapstone, but it’s not. It’s actually a 1960’s lab sink from a school. The legs are vintage, from an 1910 farm sink. Also, the screen door to the chicken run is Victorian. I love salvage yards!

There are Dutch doors on both sides of the barn, which gives it good air flow in the heat of summer.

I use old ladders for roosts. The white brackets were for a shelf, but the chickens roosted there. What a mess. I took it down. I have a collection of old farm license plates – even one that says egg dealer!

The interior you see here is half of the barn, the other half is storage AND a small, 4 x 4 stall, that we use for chicks, sick hens, etc. One of these days, I’ll get another critter. An alpaca? A pair of heritage geese? Two mini-donkeys? What do you think?

…but everyone else does.

Despite the fact that one of our fifteen hens didn’t lay a single egg in the month of March, we collected 191 eggs last month! That’s about an egg every other day from each of the girls. That’s not productive enough for a farmer who has to make a living at it (have you seen the price of a bag of laying hen pellets lately?) but it’s plenty for me.

The truth is, I’d probably keep a whole flock of hens as “useless” as Snowball, because at this point I’m attached to having chickens in the backyard. I love how they look. I love their company. But, I sure am glad that the girls I have lay eggs. After all of this time keeping poultry, I haven’t gotten over the delight of collecting their eggs – it’s like getting presents everyday.

The main reason that people give up eating eggs is the fear of raising blood cholesterol levels which increases the risk of heart disease. I’ve been saying this for a long time – the research is out there – that there is no link between eating eggs and heart disease. Recently, the Harvard School of Public Health conducted a research study of 10,000 individuals which found no link between egg consumption and developing heart disease in adults. The study showed that eating an average of one egg per day has little effect on total blood cholesterol levels and doesn’t increase the risk of heart disease or stroke. The research did indicate that excess saturated and trans fats have the greatest impact on blood cholesterol  levels.

So, limit the junk food and enjoy your eggs!

What’s your favorite way to eat eggs? I start my day with a sliced hard-cooked egg on a piece of good toast.

Are any of you artists? Crafters? Are you inspired by your chickens? I’m not an artist, I’m a writer. But I love the immediate gratification of making something tangible that comes from crafts. Recently I bought a pinback/magnet maker. Find some fun images on paper, cut it, pull the lever, and I have something to hold and wear! Right now I’m struggling writing a book (the words are all tangled up so far), and so I take breaks and make things. Here’s the latest. Chickens of course. They’re for sale on my etsy.com shop.

I will tell you about the first fifteen minutes. My train arrived at Penn Station at dinner time. Like many other people, I exited the building and stood in a long line at the taxi stand. Penn Station is below Madison Square Garden, where Ringling Brothers Circus will be playing. So, next to the line of folks waiting for cabs were a line of protesters. Now, I’m the first one to stand up for caring humanely for animals, but PETA and the like have an anti-animal, anti-zoo, anti-animal training, extreme vegetarianism stance. Their outlook is unrealistic, has a warped view of animal/human relationships and does more harm than good.

What can I say, I got in a shouting match with them. New York brings out that in people.